So Much Christmas at Gaylord Rockies

 It's that time of year again...

That time of year when Gaylord Rockies Resort in Aurora comes alive with Christmas fun!

It really doesn't feel that long ago that we were at the Gaylord Rockies last year celebrating the holiday season and yet here we are again celebrating all the festive fun that Gaylord Rockies has to offer. This year really has flown by.

Recently the kids and I spent an evening at Gaylord Rockies checking out their holiday events. We helped Buddy the elf save Christmas, we watched acrobats and magicians, we strolled through the colorful light displays, we ice skated under twinkling lights, we slid down the tubing hill and we ate lots of tasty treats. 

Let's take a look at the fun...

I Love Christmas Movies at Gaylord Rockies

Can you believe it's already December? Where did the year go?

December is always a pretty crazy month around here with a ton of different holiday activities happening in a relatively short amount of time. I'm sure that's true for most families. This year things are looking a little different with lockdowns, shelter at home orders and everything that the pesky virus has brought with it. We're lucky that while numbers have increased dramatically here in Colorado, we're not in a lockdown like other places. Rather, we have "safer at home" measures in place which means we can go out but should limit it as much as possible. 

This means that we have been getting out to celebrate the holidays a little but we've majorly cut down on the number of activities and events from previous years and we're sticking to all of the social distancing and mask requirements. Likewise, the events and exhibits that we have gone to have been great about keeping visitors safe. 

One such exhibit that we recently attended was the I Love Christmas Movies immersive exhibition at Gaylord Rockies in Denver. If you've been here a while you'll know I'm a big fan of immersive experiences so this was right up my alley!

I Love Christmas Movies is all about - you guessed it - Christmas movies! The exhibit features replica movie sets from five classic Christmas movies, and visitors are walked through in small groups led by masked "Production Assistants" who provide a little background, and fun commentary, for each scene. Lighting, audio, music and special effects help bring each scene to life.

So, just which Christmas movies can you expect to find yourself in? The exhibit starts with scenes from Elf, followed by The Year without a Santa Claus, A Christmas Story, and The Polar Express before ending with my favorite, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.

Let's take a look...

100+ Fun & Easy Elf on the Shelf Ideas

Does the Elf on Shelf visit your home at Christmas time?

Our elf, Elfie Pokie Nokie, has been visiting our home since 2012 and during that time he's found himself in all sorts of crazy, and fun, situations. 

I know that a lot of parents can find the elf a little overwhelming, so today I'm sharing one hundred (yes, one hundred!) fun and easy elf antics. Most of these are easily set up in the evening with just what you'll find around your home. No over the top elf accessories here! 

Elf on the Shelf: Week 4

Christmas has been and gone, but I still have quite a few Christmas themed posts to share - you know, as inspiration for next year. Not at all because I'm behind!

As you know, I like to share what our Elf on the Shelf, Elfie Pokie Nokie gets up to each week throughout December. I'm yet to share his last week with us, even though it was only 4 days, so here it is: Our last few days with Elfie Pokie Nokie this year...

Day 22
On day 22 we found Elfie hanging upside down from the Mexican tissue paper banners that I had hung in our entry way. He spent the entire day hanging upside down from one leg, but he didn't seem to mind too much.

Day 23
On day 23 the kids couldn't find Elfie anywhere in our house, and it wasn't until we stepped outside that they discovered him. The day before we had set up new Christmas lights in our front yard including a light up corgi - although Mathilde is convinced it's a shiba inu with no tail! Elfie must have taken a liking to the corgi as we found him tucked under the corgi's scarf. I guess it kept him snuggly warm over night!

Day 24
Christmas Eve found Elfie back inside the house, and in an especially cold spot.  I opened the fridge door to get milk for my morning latte and there he was squeezed into the door shelf next to the juice.  It must have been pretty chilly hanging out in the fridge all day, but I guess he is probably used to it, living in the North Pole, and all.

Day 25
The big day! The kids were so excited to see what Santa had brought for them that they didn't notice Elfie hanging from the mantle along with their stocking for quite some time. Even though he was hiding in clear view he does blend in rather well with the red and white stockings.

After Christmas Elfie traveled back to the North Pole. We look forward to seeing him back in our home again next December.

Does the Elf on the Shelf visit your home?

Elf on the Shelf: Week 3

Another week has passed and Christmas is just two days away! Eek!

So much to do, and so little time, but it also means that another full week with Elfie Pokie Nokie in our home has gone by. Of course, it also means only a few more days of waking up at 2am to the realization that the elf is yet to move!

Here's a look at what Elfie has been up to over the past week...

Day 16
The kids couldn't find Elfie anywhere for quite some time until they went past the laundry to get their jackets and boots for school. That's when they spotted him sitting in the clothes dryer. Now, Elfie has hidden out in the clothes dryer a couple times in the past in our apartment in Berkeley and we always figured it was to keep warm. However, and here's something strange about clothes dryers in American houses that I never knew before, our current dryer has a big outlet pipe that leads outside of the house. I'm not really sure how this works as clothes dryers in Australia don't have this (nor did our dryer in Berkeley), but what I do know is that this pipe brings in cold air from outside! Trust me, when it's -4C outside, the clothes in the dryer are fricken freezing! Unless I take the clothes out as soon as the dryer finishes I get a chilly shock when I open the dryer door!

Day 17
On day 17 the kinds, once again, didn't spot Elfie until we were heading out to go to school. That's when we found him perched on one of our rather festive looking lawn flamingos. I'm guessing he brought them their matching hats and scarves as they weren't there earlier.

Day 18
Some days Elfie's hiding spots aren't very original, and today was one of those days. We found him sitting behind a print in our living room. He has hidden behind prints and paintings many times in the past, but this time it looks as though he made himself a little prop to go with the print. This print is made up of little signs that pay tribute to different areas of San Francisco (we have the New York print too) and Elfie seems to have made himself a North Pole sign to go along with it.

Day 19
Another day of Elfie just hanging about... literally. We found him hanging upside down from the light fixture above out dining table. I guess he has a good view from up there.

Day 20
Remember that crazy cereal cafe that we went to over Thanksgiving break? You can see it here on my Instagram if you're not sure what I'm talking about. Anyway, while we were there Ava ate a bowl of Elf on the Shelf sugar cookie cereal (who knew that was a thing?) and she liked it so much that she bought a box of it to bring home. You can buy it here if you're keen to try it - and it arrives before Christmas if you order now! Back to Elfie... He must have found it in our pantry and thought it would make a good breakfast treat for the kids so he brought it out onto the kitchen bench, and plonked himself inside the box. Must be weird seeing yourself on a cereal box!

Day 21
On day 21 Elfie made an unexpected friend. We found him sitting on the log in Cookie's (Ava's pet leopard gecko) vivarium. At first Cookie seemed a little wary on the intruder, but after a little while he seemed rather curious and started climbing on Elfie. Elfie ended up falling over and I did plan to sit him back up again, but Cookie seemed happy with him there and ended up spending the entire day snuggled up under Elfie. The kids were convinced that Elfie and Cookie had become best friends and that Elfie needed to move in with Cookie permanently, but in true elf form Elfie moved again over night. Mathilde was convinced that Cookie missed Elfie, so she drew pictures of him to stick on the walls of Cookies vivarium. The kids did have me Elfie from his new spot (which you'll see in next week's post) and put him back in with Cookie - who went straight back to snuggling up to his friend! Maybe we now have an "elf on the gecko log" rather than an elf on the shelf!

Three weeks down, just a few more days to go!

Let's see if Elfie ends up becoming a permanent fixture in Cookie's vivarium!

P.S. Elfie is in need of a new hat. Those Krampus horns that he grew last week ripped a nice big hole in his hat. Oops. His Krapus tail left behind a bit of a hole too.

Elf on the Shelf: Week 2

Elfie Pokie Nokie has been back in our house for over two weeks now - which means we're even closer to Christmas. How is it only 9 days away? Totally not stressing out about that! Ha!

While I wrack my brain trying to work out what to get the kids for Christmas (and how to get it in such a short amount of time - eek!) let's take a look at what Elfie has been up to over the past week.

Day 8
On Day 8 we found Elfie poking out from behind a cushion on the hanging chair in our living room. A favorite Christmas book (The Christmas Wish) was sitting out - one that we hadn't left there. It was the perfect invitation to sit down somewhere comfy and read, although Mathilde didn't seem so sure about Elfie reading over her shoulder!

Day 9
On Day 9 we found Elfie simply sitting on the mantel in our family room. Not a particular good hiding spot, however there was something a little peculiar happening here. It looks like Elfie decided to add himself to our family photo! He's not quite to scale though. I don't remember him being so tall! This picture has been the target of Elfie's pranks in the past too with him adding googly eyes onto our faces. You can see that prank here. I guess at least this time he didn't make us look silly!

Day 10
Our advent calendar activity for day 10 was to make honey biscuits (you can find the recipe for these tasty cookies here) so it came as no surprise when we found Elfie perched inside the mixer surrounded by cookie cutters. On a side note, as the mixer is fairly new I completely forgot how much easier it would make mixing the cookie dough, and I did it all by hand. Oops! I guess Elfie tried to tell me, but I didn't pay attention.

Day 11

It's finally looking a little festive around here with our Christmas tree up in the family room. Elfie decided to get into the Christmas spirit and we found him perched on a branch of the tree among the decorations. This year's tree is pretty sparse (Colorado tree farms don't seem to have to lush, thick trees we're used to in California) so Elfie was pretty easy to spot.
P. S. Anyone else have a tree filled with decorations from their travels? I know that nothing matches on our tree so it's not the prettiest to look at, but I love that it's filled with memories.

Day 12
Looks like Elfie decided to take a birds' eye view over everyone, or as close to a birds' eye view you can get inside, and perched himself atop the ceiling fan in the living room. The little guy is lucky that I stopped Lola from trying to turn the fan on to send him for a spin!

Day 13
Elfie sure seems to like hanging out in our family room this year. On day 13 we found him literally hanging out - hung by a tiny peg on the mantle with all of our Christmas cards! You may notice that the kids on all these cards look familiar. That's because they're all the cards that I've made over past years! We only ever receive maybe four or five cards a year (and usually after Christmas) so I hang our old cards up instead. It's a cute way to look back and see how much the girls have grown over the years.

Day 14
Day 14 found Elfie on the mantle again, but there was something different about him. Overnight he seems to have grown horns, a long tongue and a tail. Mathilde was convinced that he had transformed into a demon, but Lola recognized him straight away. Elfie was dressed as Krampus! Now, in the past Elfie has had fun mixing up holidays by stealing Halloween candy, playing with a dreidel, and dressing up as a pilgrim for Thanksgiving. This time around he's mixing things up by playing different Christmas characters. The girls noticed that Elfie seemed to have a parcel for them, and they were excited to find the book Krampus Meets his Match inside. Elfie certainly wasn't quite as scary looking as the Krampus in the book, but he sure was pretty creepy! 

And that's it for another week of Elfie Pokie Nokie in our home.

Time for me to work out how to get hot glue off an elf hat...

Elf on the Shelf - Week 4

Christmas is so last year, but I still have a few posts to share about our holiday fun - including the last few days of Elfie Pokie Nokie's adventures in our home.

Let's take a look at what he got up to in the lead up to Christmas...

Day 22

Elves live in the North Pole, right? And the North Pole is pretty snowy, right? Well, Elfie decided to share the snow love with the girls and brought them a pack of instant snow. I guess it was good prep for our trip to Colorado for Winter break (lots more of that to come soon, but for now you can follow along on Instagram). Anyway, the girls added the snow powder to a bowl with water and voila - instant snow! I'm not sure what was in that stuff, but it sure was fun to play with.

Day 23
Elfie Pokie Nokie is a fan of playing games and puzzles, and Jenga was his game of choice on day 23. We found Elfie with the Jenga blocks stacked ready for a game. I wonder who he was going to play with.

Day 24
Uh oh... Someone found the googly eyes and a glue stick! We caught Elfie Pokie Nokie red handed after he glued googly eyes onto the girls' walnut ink portraits by artist Kate True. Good thing the portraits were safely behind glass! Mathilde thought hers looked quite cute with the new eyes, but I think I prefer the original. Complete aside, but can you believe that all three of the girls' portraits were painted with the same ink? Amazing, right? I'll have a post coming soon about their portraits too.

Day 25

On Christmas morning we found Elfie sitting on the cabinet next to our Christmas tree. He had helped himself to a honey biscuit that looked suspiciously like the ones we had left out for Santa. Maybe Santa had shared his cookies with Elfie. I mean, he does get a lot of cookies as he travels from home to home so I'm sure he can spare one or two.

Later in the day the girls wrote letters to Santa thanking him for their gifts. I placed the letters in the last pocket of our advent calendar along with Elfie. He'll take them back to the North Pole and deliver them to Santa himself. This is always Elfie's last job of the year.

And that's it. Another December of Elfie Pokie Nokie in our home.

We look forward to Elfie returning again next year.